I’m starting to feel ever so slightly sorry for the Ottawa police. Not all of them, mind you. Just the good apples. The ones who don’t abuse their power, kick homeless people, strip sex workers naked in public, beat anybody up, or sexually assault women in their custody.

POWER (Prostitutes of Ottawa Work Education Resist) today released a fascinating report about the conditions, context and challenges faced by sex workers in Ottawa, with particular emphasis on their experiences with the Ottawa police. In light of the findings of this report, POWER has asked the Ontario Human Rights Commission to conduct a public […]

Did you read this appalling story in today’s Citizen? It’s about a young woman named Stacy Bonds who was taken into police custody for no good reason, while walking home one night in 2008. She was essentially seized off the streets of Ottawa while doing nothing wrong. While in police custody, she was physically assaulted […]

Earlier this year, Italy granted sweeping new powers to its municipalities to create laws that they believe will reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. Given that you can get some very strange people running municipalities (I’m looking at you, Toronto), I wouldn’t be surprised if some very strange laws were put into place.

The last two days I’ve been following the sentencing hearing of Colonel Russell Williams. (For those of you unfamiliar with the case, Col. Williams was commander of Canada’s largest military base. About two years ago he started breaking into homes in his neighbourhood(s) and stealing the underwear of women and girls. He took photographs of […]

As soon as I heard that three prostitution-related laws had been struck down in Ontario Superior Court yesterday, I knew the federal Conservatives would appeal. Why? Because that’s what they do. They stick their indignant little noses into anything that offends their ideological non-sensibilities, whether it has anything to do with them or not. As […]

Yesterday I read a story in the Ottawa Citizen about a 27-year-old Gatineau man who was convicted on child pornography charges. Police had found on his computer about 2,000 animé images of children having sex with adults or other children, plus three photographic images. Animé is Japanese cartoon-style drawings. (I’m not sure whether his […]